The Rippling Alternative When You Just Need ATS + HR, Not a Payroll Suite
Rippling bundles ATS, HR, payroll, IT, and benefits into one platform — and charges you for all of it. If you already have payroll covered and just need powerful recruiting plus HR management, you're paying for modules you'll never use.
Rippling's base platform starts at $8/employee/month, but ATS, HR Cloud, payroll, and benefits are each separate add-ons. For a 100-person company wanting ATS + HR + payroll, you can easily spend $2,500-4,000/month. If you already have payroll, you're forced to either duplicate it or pay for modules you don't need.
Overkill if you just need ATS + HR
Rippling is built for companies consolidating their entire workforce stack — payroll, benefits, IT device management, and HR. If you already have payroll sorted and just need recruiting and HR management, Rippling's complexity becomes overhead, not value. Configuration takes longer and the learning curve steepens for features you'll never touch.
Minimum contracts and lock-in
Rippling typically requires annual contracts with early termination fees. If you realize the platform isn't the right fit after a few months, you're stuck paying for the remainder of your contract. This lock-in model is frustrating for growing companies whose needs change rapidly and who want the flexibility to adapt their tooling.
Feature comparison
Treegarden vs Rippling — side by side
Feature
Treegarden
Rippling
Pricing model
Flat from $299
Per-employee + add-ons
ATS included
Every plan
Paid add-on
HR module included
Every plan
Paid add-on
Payroll required
Not required
Core product
Unlimited users
All plans
Per-employee
Kanban pipeline
Drag & drop
Yes
AI candidate scoring
Built-in
Limited
Multi-posting job boards
15+ boards
Fewer integrations
Setup time
1-2 weeks
4-12 weeks
Employee onboarding
Included
Yes (add-on)
Minimum contract
Month-to-month
Annual required
IT device management
Not needed
Add-on
Why Treegarden
What you get when you switch
ATS + HR in one flat price, no bundling
Get a complete ATS and HR module for $299/$499/$899 per month — no payroll add-on required, no per-employee fees, no surprise invoices. You pay one price and get everything you need for recruiting and employee management without subsidizing modules you don't use.
Purpose-built for recruiting teams
Treegarden is a recruiting-first platform, not a payroll suite with an ATS bolted on. Every feature is designed around the hiring workflow — visual Kanban pipelines, AI candidate scoring, multi-board job posting, structured scorecards, and automated candidate nurturing sequences.
No lock-in, no annual contracts
Use Treegarden month-to-month and cancel anytime. No early termination fees, no annual commitments, no penalty for leaving. We believe software should earn your business every month — not trap you in a contract you signed before understanding the product.
Hassle-free migration
Switching takes 2 weeks, not 6 months
Our migration team handles the recruiting and HR data transfer. Your payroll stays where it is — we only move what matters for hiring and employee management.
1
Data export
We extract candidates, employees, and HR records from Rippling
2
Configure
We set up your pipelines, HR workflows, and integrations
3
Import & verify
All data imported, validated, and ready for your team
4
Go live
Team training, parallel run, and full cutover in 2 weeks
What customers say
Teams that made the switch
"We were paying Rippling $3,200/mo for 100 employees and only using the ATS and HR modules. We already had Gusto for payroll. Switching to Treegarden at $499/mo saved us over $30K annually without losing any recruiting capability."
James Morrison
COO, Software company (100 employees)
"Rippling's ATS felt like an afterthought — it was clearly a payroll company first. Treegarden's recruiting tools are on another level: the Kanban board, the AI scoring, the job board integrations. It's what we actually needed."
Rachel Kim
Head of Talent, Marketing agency (75 employees)
Simple pricing
Flat-rate plans, unlimited users
Every plan includes the full ATS + HR module. No payroll bundling, no per-employee fees, no annual contracts required.
Rippling is a comprehensive workforce management platform that bundles payroll, benefits, IT device management, and HR together, with ATS available as an add-on module. Treegarden is a focused ATS plus HR platform built specifically for recruiting teams and HR departments that need hiring and employee management without the overhead of a full payroll suite. The key differences are pricing structure, complexity, and focus. Rippling's modular approach means you pay a base per-employee fee plus add-ons for each module. Treegarden charges a flat $299, $499, or $899 per month with unlimited users and both ATS and HR included in every plan.
No, we do not offer a hands-on demo. Instead, we provide hands-on personalized demos where our team walks you through the entire platform using your actual recruiting workflow. This approach is far more valuable than a self-guided trial because you get to see exactly how Treegarden handles your specific use cases — from job posting and candidate pipeline management to interview scheduling and employee onboarding. During the demo, we configure the system to match your hiring stages, show you integrations with your existing job boards and calendar tools, and answer every question in real time.
Absolutely. Treegarden is designed to complement your existing payroll system, not replace it. Many of our customers use Treegarden for ATS and HR management while keeping their current payroll provider — whether that is ADP, Gusto, Paychex, or a local provider. Treegarden handles the entire recruiting lifecycle from job posting through offer acceptance, then seamlessly transitions new hires into the HR module for onboarding, document management, and employee record keeping. When it comes time to run payroll, you simply export the relevant employee data to your payroll system.
Migrating from Rippling to Treegarden typically takes about two weeks. Our migration team handles the recruiting and HR data transfer end to end — we import your candidate database, active job postings, hiring pipeline configurations, employee records, and document libraries. We configure Treegarden to match your existing workflows including pipeline stages, email templates, approval chains, and job board integrations. During the transition, we run both systems in parallel so no candidate or employee data is lost. Note that payroll data stays with your payroll provider — Treegarden focuses specifically on the ATS and HR functions that you are migrating.
No. All Treegarden plans are available on a month-to-month basis with no minimum contract length required. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel at any time without early termination fees. This is a significant difference from Rippling, which typically requires annual contracts and can charge early termination fees if you leave before the contract period ends. We believe that software should earn your business every month, not lock you into a multi-year commitment before you have had time to evaluate whether it truly fits your workflow.
Ready to stop paying for modules you don't use?
See how Treegarden delivers ATS + HR at a flat monthly price — without the payroll bundle.